~May Your Light Shine :D~

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Today's message was on the Passion of the Christ. Nope not about the movie, but about the passage found in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. (Go to http://www.bibleontheweb.com to read the passage)

The book of Isaiah was written 700 over years before the birth of Christ and is liken to be a condensed version of the Bible. It is separated into 2 sections with the first 39 chapters similar to the Old Testament and the next 27 chapters similar to the New Testament.

Chapters 52 and 53 are about the life of Christ, especially that of the hours leading to His death. I did not watch the movie, Passion of the Christ, but I believe with a rating of NC16, it must have been filled with blood and violence. So much so that some who watched it cried, or walked out of the cinema for it was too much for them to take. Perhaps certain scenes were exaggerated to appeal to the cinematic audience, but we must never make light the pain and suffering Christ, our Saviour went through for us.

Please take time to read this: http://1stholistic.com/Prayer/A2004/hol_passion-medical.htm or http://www.ldolphin.org/kwells9.html (more detailed without graphics)
- A modern medical perspective of what Christ endured in the last 12 hours of His life

Everytime I am reminded of how much Christ had endured for me, I never fail to get all choked up. Once, I truly broke down and cried. Who am I? That He, who is perfect and blameless, had to suffer for MY sake. All the while, He was humiliated and mocked at. He died the most painful death imaginable. And not once did He retaliate, or speak up for Himself. Like what the scriptures said, "He was like a sheep to slaughter". The most amazing thing was that His last words were,"Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing." How many of us can ask for the forgiveness of those who put us to death?

To non-Christians, the gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Christ sounds too good to be true. I understand that it is extremely difficult to grasp the concept of simply believing that Christ died for you and all your sins are forgiven and you will live happily ever after in heaven with God. Even fairy tales do not get this good. I think that perhaps the physics behind how God holds the whole universe together or created Earth and all its life forms would be easier to understand than God's love for us. All I can tell you is that God loves us more than we love ourselves and that is why He was willing to send Christ down for us. BUT God is not just love, He is also fair, and for those who do not accept Christ as their Saviour, they will be judged for their sins. Eternal life in heaven or second death in hell, its your choice to make.

Lydea blogged at 5:01 PM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...